Working
Groups
This Action brought together Chronic GvHD (cGvHD) researchers across Europe for the first time, creating a network of cross-disciplinary experts in the field.
Working Group 5
Immunotherapy
Lead
Prof Marit Inngjerdingen
Country
Norway
mariti@medisin.uio.no
Vice Lead
Ulrike Koehl
Country
Germany
Koehl.Ulrike@mh-hannover.de
Overview
Patients with cGvHD (30-50%) can become refractory to standard therapy, new treatment options and the assessment of current novel therapies are urgently needed to improve the long term outcome and quality of life. In this Working Group, the Action brought together experts in cGVHD and clinical trial development, especially in the realm of cellular therapies with the aim of developing concepts for new approaches including personalized approaches to therapy.
Objectives and results
Investigation of immunotherapeutic challenges for the treatment of cGvHD resistant to conventional therapy.
Objectives and results
The working group organised meetings and On-line Training Schools aiming to harmonize good manufacturing practice (GMP) protocols for immunotherapy trials for cGvHD in Europe and to assess efficacy/safety criteria in both pre-clinical models and clinical scenarios. The Action helped to define hurdles in immunotherapy trials and to develop an on-line toolbox of documents and Training Schools in order to standardise quality control for the use of novel therapies e.g. antibodies ATMP’s and exosomes.
Dr Doglio reviewed immunomodulatory approaches of cGVHD treatment, including T cells, natural killer (NK) cells and innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), and mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC). Extracellular vesicles potentialities were also evaluated.
Please find here the link.
Other working groups
Biomarkers
This Working Group will assess the type and amount of biomarker information which is currently available in the literature and assess those which are worthy of further validation and study.
Socioeconomics/Quality of life
CGvHD is a long term complex disease which has several co-morbidities and as such impacts on the quality of life of patients. By studying the societal impact of the disease via documented quality of life assessments, including reduced working days due to hospital stays, EUROGRAFT will allow an improved assessment of the burden on society of cGvHD at both the individual and European level.
NIH Consensus
The NIH consensus criteria needs to be implemented uniformly if diagnosis and treatment of
cGVHD is to be optimized. The aim of this Working Group will be to aid in both the understanding and
implementation of the NIH Consensus via Training Schools and workshops.
